The Park made hard work of rescuing a point from this 4 all draw at home against Killarney Athletic .
Having conceded an early goal after 10 minutes , we found ourselves chasing the game. This shocked us into a smarted type of game. Despite having a period of dominance we found it difficult to break Killarney Athletic down. Eventually after 25 minutes David Courtney chipped a magnificent pass through to Fergal Maunsell who did a carbon copy when he chipped Athletic’s keeper for what was to b the first equalizer of the game.
We again paid the price for being slow in closing down the opposition leaving them to retake the lead with 38 minutes gone in the half.
We went into the second half still trying to impose our game on the visitors but to no avail and Killarney Athletic then further extended their lead to 3-1 after 65 minutes . It was beginning to look ominous for us at this point and our problem’s were further exasperated when we lost Mark O Sullivan with a Red Card.
We maintained our composure dispute this significant set back. Fergal Ryan replaced David Courtney after 72 minutes. Con Barrett header rebounded off the crossbar from a set piece on 74 minutes . Shortly after this the play was stopped for 7 minutes because the match ball had to b rescued from high bushes. Con Barrett was the climber supported by David Rogers and George. We worked our way back into the game and maintained constant pressure on the visitors 18 yard area for the final 15 minutes . This pressure eventually paid off when from yet another set piece, Fergal Maunsell’s free kick broke out to Stefan Okunbor who duly obliged with a well taken second goal. We were back on an equal footing at long last when Con Barrett scored our third on 80 minutes .
Within 5 minutes we conceded a fourth . This was like a back to the future in earnest, not good for the heart. But the best was yet to come when we’re awarded a free on the edge of the Killarney Athletic 18 yard box. Fergal Maunsell scored a brilliant equalizing goal into the top right hand corner in the 88th minute to cap an overall star performance. Man of the Match David Rogers.
Report by G.Dineen
